Matū

The General Partner team comprises Managing Partner Greg Sitters, Principal General Partner Ken Erskine, and General Partner Dr Andy West. Sitters brings over 25 years in IT and early-stage investing, Erskine has personal investments in over 80 high-tech ventures and helped establish the Global from Day One seed fund, and West is a former Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University and CEO of AgResearch with a PhD in Microbial Ecology. They are supported by a Scientific Advisory Board and a Commercial Advisory Board that provide domain-specific guidance, but the three General Partners hold investment decision authority.

Matū is embedded in New Zealand’s research commercialisation ecosystem through formal partnerships with the University of Auckland Inventors’ Fund, Booster Investment Management, and the Federation of Māori Authorities Innovation theme. The firm’s partners sit on multiple investment committees within the Return on Science and Momentum programmes, which together form the national Commercialisation Partner Network. This position gives Matū early visibility into scientific innovations emerging from universities, Crown Research Institutes, and Māori economic entities before they reach the broader venture market.

Matū is a venture capital fund manager with four distinct vehicles. Matū Karihi is an open-ended pre-seed and seed fund that holds investments through to exit where possible. Matū Ngota operates as a series of closed funds targeting Series A and B rounds for science and deep tech companies. Matū Iramoe provides a mechanism for retail investors to access the Matū fund family. Matū Honohono is an advisory arm that conducts due diligence and pitch development for external clients including investors and start-ups.

Matū makes direct equity investments into science and deep tech start-ups, predominantly at pre-seed, seed, Series A, and Series B stages. The firm does not operate as a fund-of-funds. Its mandatory syndication policy means every deal is co-invested alongside other professional investors — such as the University of Auckland Inventors’ Fund or Booster — to share risk and broaden the network supporting each portfolio company.

Matū Karihi targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies, providing early capital and actively managing investments over a long timeframe. Matū Ngota focuses on Series A and Series B rounds for both existing Matū portfolio companies and external science and deep tech start-ups as they scale and target overseas markets — the US and UK are commonly referenced by the firm’s International Advisory Board members. The two funds operate on different liquidity timelines: Karihi as an open-ended vehicle, Ngota as a series of closed funds.

Matū does not publish an explicit exclusion list, but its investment activity concentrates on science and deep tech — including clean technology, life sciences, advanced materials, and enterprise software. The firm’s Ethical Investment Policy and Whakatipu Tāngata (Capability Development) Policy guide decision-making, and its ‘Kaitiaki’ (guardianship) value commits to leaving the world in a better place. Consumer internet, marketplace, and business-model-light SaaS plays are notably absent from the disclosed portfolio, consistent with the firm’s IP-rich, research-driven mandate.

Syndication is mandatory for every deal Matū participates in, a discipline introduced by Greg Sitters based on his earlier experience with Sparkbox Venture Group. The firm co-invests regularly with the University of Auckland Inventors’ Fund and Booster Investment Management, both formal partners, and draws on its network of angel investors and institutional LPs within the Return on Science programme. The firm also lists Hello Tomorrow — a global deep tech network — among its partners, though that relationship is built on pipeline sharing rather than capital co-investment.